‘V’ Queen Alien Morena Baccarin Talks About Eating a Rat

Last season, "V" fans at Comic-Con and elsewhere kept asking the show's stunning, sexy head alien, Morena Baccarin, whether her Anna character was going to eat a rat — something that those bad folks from outer space have been seen doing on the sci-fi cult favorite. Now, with "V" production back in full swing for a November return, the Rio de Janeiro-born actress says, "It turns out I am. It's done in a very different way than before. It's pretty gross. It was a long, hard day at work."

Certainly this highly anticipated bit was done via movie magic.

"A certain part of it was, but I still had to handle a huge rat all day," she says.

Fortunately, Baccarin was still fresh from her production hiatus when the rat business went down. She spent much of her time traveling to promote "V" in Europe and in Latin America.

"I went back to Rio and to Sao Paulo. I got to spend time with my family and be there while the show was airing. To be known in my homeland — it was incredible," she relates. The Brazilians showed her "a reaction of pride. It was the sweetest thing I ever experienced. I did a talk show there that I grew up watching. It was so surreal and wonderful," adds the beauty, whose mother is Brazilian actress Vera Setta, and whose father, Fernando Baccarin, is in TV news.

She certainly had the chance to brush up on her Portuguese. "I do speak it. I don't know about flawlessly. I don't speak it that often anymore," she says.

Baccarin also enjoyed the European leg of her promo trek. "In Barcelona and other cities, suddenly there were locals following me everywhere. We're a No. 1 rated show in Europe."

She's enjoying the fan attention at this point. And though the "V" troops lead a rather insular existence while the series is in production in Vancouver, she's OK with not having a big social life at this stage of the game.

"You work so hard to achieve success in your life and career. Now is the time to just jump in, enjoy it and do great work," says Baccarin. Even if it involves eating rats.

LOSING IT: "Wizards of Waverly Place" papa David DeLuise finished Season 3 with his series family about to walk home through the desert. He started Season 4 with his character entering his house, saying, "Wow, that was a long walk. I feel like I've lost 35 pounds."

The thing is, DeLuise HAS lost 35 — make it 37 — pounds in recent months. He says his weight loss journey began one day when he was "just sitting with a buddy of mine, saying, 'I'm happy with every aspect of my life except this'" — meaning his weight. And he decided to do something about it. He started hiking, spinning and "I just made it happen," he tells us.

Coincidentally, he ran into series son David Henrie and his real-life dad on a hiking trail between seasons, "and he said, 'Oh, my God! Half of your face is gone!'"

DeLuise, youngest son of late comedy legend Dom, has acknowledged in the past that his dad's weight had to have negatively impacted his health.

Now, he says, "You get healthy and it's such a positive thing. You exercise, you get all your aggressions out. You get all the endorphins. My daughters like that I'm exercising. And living a healthier lifestyle, you come across people who are happy, who are positive because they, too, are trying to do something good for themselves."

DeLuise says he'd like to lose another pound or two, but now, "What I would like, ultimately, to do is get more cut — get a little more muscle. So I look more like what the women want," he says with a laugh.

With 17 episodes left to shoot of "WOWP," he's focusing on directing as well as acting on the show. He's now helmed three episodes and says, "I'm going to do two more. The next one I'm doing is in November. Of course, my hope is that I get a shot at doing a show that is not mine so that I can navigate my directing position from the beginning."

SOMETHING FUNNY: A mid-November production start has been set for "So Undercover," the feature that has Miley Cyrus playing a tough private eye who pretends to be a sorority sister to protect a coed in danger — which may sound ridiculous until you remember that people bought her as a pop star who led a double life as an average, everyday high schooler for four years.

They're doing a tad more shooting on "Little Fockers," the Dec. 22 release that's the latest installment of the superstar-laden big-screen franchise "Meet the Parents." A very tall, Amazon-like Flamenco dancer is being cast for a dance lesson scene involving Dustin Hoffman's character in the comedy.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.